Jair Bolsonaro taken into custody after being considered a flight risk

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The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.

The ex-president was convicted of plotting a armed takeover in the ninth month and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under confinement pending court reviews.

Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" emerged.

This included attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a public vigil that could enable a potential flight.

Legal Document Reveals Flight Fears

In a document approving the detention, the judge said information from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the surveillance device to ensure success in his flight.

This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.

His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a legislator, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.

Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on last Friday: Will you battle for your country, or watch it all from your phone there on your sofa? I invite you to fight with us."

He said the gathering would be so supporters could "pray for his health and for the return of democracy in our land."

Foreign Shelter Risks

Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the chance of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of arranging to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.

The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from his dwelling.

International Reactions

Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow right-wing populist American leader Donald Trump, causing him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.

He is being detained in a national police facility in Brasilia and will experience a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.

Latest Court Petitions

It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with digital surveillance.

They also asked that Bolsonaro be allowed to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he required frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.

Background on Conviction

He was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Lula.

Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plan which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been presiding over the former president's case.

The conspiracy was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. The current president was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.

But a following week, on the eighth of January, many Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed official structures in the capital, the capital city.

The security forces took action and around 1,500 people were detained.

The judges found that the rioters had been incited by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, reestablish control and bring him back to power.

At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.

He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.

The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him running in the next presidential race.

Shannon Collins
Shannon Collins

A seasoned journalist with a decade of experience in European politics and media studies.